1M gallons of oil-drilling byproducts leaked into N. Dakota drinking water

July 10, 2014 RT


A North Dakota pipeline has hemorrhaged about 1 million gallons of oil-drilling saltwater into the ground of a native Indian reservation, with some of the byproduct suspected to have leaked into a lake that provides drinking water.

The spill of a toxic byproduct of oil and natural gas production at the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation was discovered on Tuesday.

The cleanup is expected to last for weeks, according to Miranda Jones, vice president of environmental safety at Crestwood Midstream Services Inc. A subsidiary of Crestwood - Aero Pipeline LLC - owns the underground pipeline.

Jones believes the leak started over the Fourth of July weekend, but was only detected when the company was sorting through production loss reports, according to AP.

"This is something no company wants on their record, and we are working diligently to clean it up," Jones said.

Yet Karolin Rockvoy, a McKenzie County emergency manager, visited the site of the leak and said, based on the amount of devastation done to local vegetation, the spill had probably gone undetected for some time.

The pipeline was not equipped with technology that alerts operators of a leak, Jones said. Last year, the state legislature rejected legislation mandating pipeline flow meters and cutoff switches.

It is as yet unknown how much of this saltwater - between 10 and 30 times saltier than sea water and considered an environmental hazard by the state of North Dakota - found its way into Bear Den Bay, which leads to Lake Sakakawea.

The lake supplies water for the reservation, where the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes live in an area of western North Dakota that is experiencing an unprecedented drilling boom.

Crestwood Midstream Services Inc. and tribal officials maintain, though, that the spill is controlled and has not impacted the lake.

"We have a berm and a dike around it, around that bay area, to keep it from going into the lake," said the Three Affiliated Tribes Chairman Tex Hall.

The briny saltwater byproduct from drilling could contain petroleum and residue from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, an energy intensive process that involves the injection of highly pressurized water, sand, and chemicals into layers of rock. The practice concerns geologists, and human and environmental health officials alike.

Kris Roberts, environmental geologist with the North Dakota Department of Health, said the spill had already caused widespread damage at the site.

"We've got dead trees, dead grasses, dead bushes, dying bushes," he said, according to AP.

Saltwater spills in the state have increased as the North Dakota energy boom has evolved. The state produced 25.5 million barrels of brine in 2012. There were 141 pipeline leaks reported in the state that same year, 99 of which spilled around 8,000 barrels of saltwater, AP reports.

State regulators say about 6,150 barrels of the leaked saltwater were recovered. One barrel equals 42 gallons of fluid.

Drilling at the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation represents a major portion of the state’s oil production, as more than 300,000 of North Dakota’s 1 million barrels of oil produced daily come from the area, according to figures from the state’s Department of Mineral Resources.

Possibly the worst environmental disaster ever in the state occurred in 2006, when a broken oil pipeline leaked more than a million gallons of saltwater into a creek, aquifer, and pond. Saltwater from the rupture spewed unnoticed for weeks into a tributary of the Yellowstone River near Alexander, North Dakota, causing the death of many fish, turtles, and plants.

Cleanup efforts connected with that spill are ongoing.

Saltwater pipelines in western North Dakota have since been connected in an elaborate network that empties into hundreds of disposal wells, where the brine is permanently stored underground.

Fracking wastewater injected into storage wells has been linked to drastically increased seismic activity in areas with similar energy booms as North Dakota, including Oklahoma.

The US Geological Survey has said that “the injected wastewater counteracts the frictional forces on faults and, in effect, ‘pries them apart’, thereby facilitating earthquake slip.”

Fracking Away Our Water Supply

Fracking is how humanity commits suicide.


September 6, 2013 | By WakingTimes
Farron Cousins, DeSmogBlog
Waking Times

As many areas of the country experience severe droughts, the fight for clean, fresh water is becoming vital to survival for many American citizens. The problem has been made worse by the expansion of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), which gobbles up hundreds of millions (billions, according to some estimates) of gallons of potable water every month.

The state of Texas has become the prime example of what can happen when the natural gas industry is allowed to run roughshod over citizens. The state is currently experiencing one of the worst droughts in modern times, and certain areas have already had to resort to water rationing.

But the dwindling supply of fresh water in Texas has barely slowed down the natural gas industry’s fracking activities. Even as livestock are dying off, crops are withering, and citizens are having to purchase bottled water in order to quench their thirst, fracking companies are sucking fresh water out of the ground in order to satisfy their need to extract every ounce of natural gas from beneath the Texas soil.

The drought and water shortages in Texas have gotten so bad that some residents have said that on some days, they can turn on their faucets and nothing even comes out anymore.

But some residents aren’t bothered by the lack of water, or by the gas industry’s activities that are compounding the problem. In fact, they’ve figured out how to make a fortune off the disaster.

According to AmericaBlog, some Texas residents have begun to lease their property to the gas industry simply to dig wells and pump water. One man reported that he is leasing his land for a staggering $36,000 a month to the gas industry. This man is either the world’s greatest salesman, or the gas industry knows that they have created a problem that is only going to become worse in the very near future.

There is also the push-back from the dirty energy industry’s astroturf organizations. The industry front group Energy in Depth dismisses the claims that fracking uses too much water by making silly comparisons to the paltry amount of water used on golf courses, car washes, and even the water that flows from the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico (which Energy in Depth apparently thinks is wasteful). However, they seem to overlook the fact that none of these activities (which all use less water than fracking) are pumping toxic chemical cocktails into the ground, further contaminating remaining water supplies as fracking does.

The reason the gas industry is allowed to use up all of Texas’ fresh water while residents goes thirsty is simple. They are one of the largest campaign donors and lobbying groups in the state, and few Texas politicians are willing to deny those hefty paychecks, or to stand up to the abuse that they are inflicting upon the state.

Texas is not alone, either. The state of Colorado is also willing to let the gas industry have access to water while denying that privilege to residents. Thanks to the effects of climate change, the Colorado River basin is drying up very quickly, starving aquifers that feed large portions of the Midwest. There is now a battle taking place in Colorado on who gets what’s left of the water – farmers, residents, or the gas industry.

The fracking / water shortage story is almost too ironic to believe. Americans are overly dependent on fossil fuels, which leads to climate change, which leads to droughts and water shortages, and the remaining water is then used up in our quest for more and more fossil fuels. It’s a self-sustaining cycle that can only be broken by embracing clean, renewable forms of energy. But in places like Texas, the state that oil built, the idea that renewables can win the day is laughable.

While independent media outlets have done a great job of telling this story, there is a separate, but related, component that has yet to be fully developed, and that is the problem of water privatization.

As the general concept of privatization continues to impact education, prisons, and national security, the impact that it is having on our water supply has been grossly overlooked.

All over the country, private companies are trying to take over the water delivery systems, which would be a disaster for American citizens. A prime example is the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Many years ago, they experimented with privatizing their water supply, and the results were less than flattering. Residents soon began to complain about dirty, brown water being delivered through their pipes, and some areas actually stopped being served altogether. The enormous public backlash prompted the city to cut the 20-year contract they had signed off after only a few years.

The same story unfolded in Detroit when they moved to privatize their water supply, and it was replayed again in states like Massachusetts, Ohio, and Detroit. Rate hikes, poor water quality, and the reduction in covered areas are all common when private companies take over the supply and delivery of water.

So that leaves us with a three-fold attack on the American water supply: There is the growing threat of water shortages from climate change, a problem that could be irreversible; The over-consumption of water from the natural gas industry; And the threat that private corporations pose when they try to take over our water.

Sadly, little is being done to mitigate this three-pronged assault on water. How many more livestock and crops will we sacrifice to the gas industry as they can continue to frack us right out of drinkable water?

Fracking Wastewater Disposal Methods Leave Environment, Public Health at Risk

Thursday, May 10, 2012 by Common Dreams
New report from NRDC shows national implications for Pennsylvania's risky fracking wastewater practices

A report released Wednesday from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) shows that the five main ways of dealing with wastewater from fracking leave public health and the environment in jeopardy.

The report, co-authored by NRDC and an independent scientist, investigates the fracking wastewater disposal practices in Pennsylvania. It notes that of some of the fracking additives, "significant concern has been raised" regarding their nature, "with 29 identified as of particular concern for human health and 13 identified as probable or known human carcinogens. Among the most notable are 2-butoxyethanol (2BE), naphthalene, benzene, and polyacrylamide."

“Contaminated wastewater has long been one of our biggest concerns about fracking, and this report confirms that current practices put both the environment and public health at risk,” said NRDC attorney Rebecca Hammer. “Americans shouldn’t have to trade their safe drinking water for fuel. We need strong safeguards on the books to ensure oil and gas companies aren’t polluting our rivers, contaminating our drinking water or even risking man-made earthquakes when they come to frack in our communities.”

The report finds that better federal and state protections are needed to help protect human health and the environment.

“Pennsylvania and the entire Marcellus Shale region have geological limitations that make wastewater disposal a particularly vexing problem for the area,” said Kate Sinding, senior attorney at NRDC. “But the lessons learned there are applicable nationwide. It is critical states in this region that are already fracking clean up their act fast. And states like New York, where gas companies are still knocking on the door, must not let them in until they get this right.”

* * *

NRDC: Report: Five Primary Disposal Methods for Fracking Wastewater All Fail to Protect Public Health and Environment

The five most common disposal options for fracking wastewater currently in use are: recycling for additional fracking, treatment and discharge to surface waters, underground injection, storage in open air pits, and spreading on roads for ice or dust control. All of these options present significant risks of harm to public health or the environment. And there are not sufficient rules in place to ensure any of them will not harm people or ecosystems.

Some of these methods present such great threats that they should be banned immediately. These methods include treatment at municipal sewage treatment plants and subsequent discharge into surface waters, storage in open air pits, and road spreading.

* * *

When this wastewater is sent to municipal sewage facilities, harmful chemicals and other pollutants are merely diluted, rather than removed, and then released into surface waters, posing serious threats to the state’s rivers, lakes and streams, as well as drinking water supplies. Industrial facilities, too, are often not designed to treat the contents of the wastewater, and can also release it into waterways or send it for reuse, after it is processed. Complete information about where industrial facilities sent processed wastewater in Pennsylvania last year was not made available by the state.

* * *

The problem of what to do with this byproduct is growing as the volume of wastewater continues to increase rapidly with the expansion of fracking in the Marcellus Shale formation and nationwide. In Pennsylvania alone, total reported wastewater volumes more than doubled from the first half of 2011 to the second half.

* * *

Wastewater contains a variety of potentially harmful pollutants that can be toxic to humans and aquatic life, radioactive, or corrosive if they are released into the environment or if people are exposed to them. They can damage ecosystem health by depleting oxygen or causing algae blooms, or interact with disinfectants at drinking water plants to form cancer-causing chemicals. These pollutants include salts, oil, grease, metals, naturally occurring radioactive material, and a cocktail of chemicals used in fracking.

Fracking involves using blasting high volumes of water and sand, mixed with undisclosed chemicals, into the ground to break apart rock and release previously inaccessible pockets of natural gas. Wastewater is created when that water mixture returns to the surface immediately after fracking, and continues to emerge from the well after production begins along with polluted water contained naturally within the underground rock formation.

***

Thursday, May 10, 2012 by Democracy Now!

Vermont Set to Become 1st State to Ban Fracking 

 

Vermont is poised to become the first U.S. state to ban the natural gas drilling practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The Vermont legislature has sent a measure imposing the ban to Gov. Peter Shumlin, who is expected to sign it into law. 

Shocking Conflict of Interest: Private Water Companies Partner With Fracking Lobby

Selling water to drillers, two of the nation's biggest private water utilities may soon profit from treating the wastewater.

By Sarah Pavlus, American Independent News Network
Posted on April 19, 2012

Two of the country's largest private water utility companies are participants in a massive lobbying effort to expand controversial shale gas drilling -- a heavy industrial activity that promises to enrich the water companies but may also put drinking water resources at risk.

The situation -- which some watchdogs describe as a troubling conflict of interest -- underscores the complex issues raised by the nationwide push to privatize infrastructure and services like water, prisons, and roads.

The water companies -- American Water and Aqua America -- are leading drinking water suppliers in Pennsylvania, where drilling is booming. They also sell water to gas companies -- which use a drilling technique that requires massive amounts of water -- and have expressed interest in treating drilling wastewater, a potentially lucrative opportunity.

These investor-owned, publicly traded water utility companies are also dues-paying "associate members" of the gas industry's powerful Marcellus Shale Coalition, a fact confirmed by coalition spokesman Travis Windle, who says associate members pay $15,000 annually in dues. "Our associate members are really the backbone of the industry," adds Windle.

Both water companies serve millions of people across the country -- Aqua America operates in 11 states and American Water in more than 30.

The coalition, which is led by major gas producers, contends that "responsible development of natural gas" will bolster the region's economy while providing an important source of domestic energy. It has reported over $2 million in Pennsylvania lobbying expenditures since 2010.

Aqua America joined the coalition in 2010 and Pennsylvania American Water -- a subsidiary of American Water -- joined in 2011, according to the coalition's quarterly magazine, which publishes a full member list in each issue.

Shale gas drillers use a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," to extract gas from the Marcellus formation in Pennsylvania. The controversial technique forces millions of gallons of water -- mixed with sand and chemicals -- into the ground to crack the shale rock and release gas. In addition to the potential risks posed by actual fracturing, the process produces large amounts of toxic wastewater that can be difficult to dispose of safely.

The Environmental Protection Agency is currently conducting a congressionally-mandated study "to investigate the potential adverse impact that hydraulic fracturing may have on water quality and public health." Pennsylvania is home to three of the seven sites selected for the nationwide study.

Separately, the EPA is testing the water of some Pennsylvania residents who say that nearby gas drilling contaminated their wells. According to the EPA, early test results indicate the water is safe to drink, however, some environmentalists disagree with that analysis.

In the meantime, the water companies are selling water to the drillers while calling for fracking to be done in an environmentally responsible manner. In a presentation to investors last month, American Water stated that it is "realizing additional revenues from water sales to drilling companies while remaining vigilant in protecting our water sources." In the presentation, the company noted it is "currently selling water to gas drillers at 34 distribution points in Pennsylvania," and that it "sold 250.4 million gallons of water to gas drillers from January through December of 2011, producing $1.6 million in revenues."

(Some public water utilities sell to drillers too, but no public utilities are part of the Marcellus Shale Coalition.)

American Water spokesman Terry Maenza says the company's support for environmental protection is unchanged by its role in the shale coalition and that it is also a member of numerous environmental groups.

"By the nature of our business, we will continue to be stewards of the environment, ensuring water source protection," says Maenza.

The company isn't currently in the drilling wastewater treatment business, according to Maenza, though during a quarterly earnings call last year, American Water CEO Jeff Sterba told investors, "We are very definitely looking and working in the wastewater treatment area." Maenza declined to comment on any specific initiatives. Aqua America executive Karl Kyriss says his company's involvement in the coalition helps protect water resources.

"By participating, we can have some direct input into the group that is looking to support development of the Marcellus Shale," says Kyriss. "But we are very much committed that it be done in an environmentally sensitive and protected manner. And we think we can do that better from the inside than just sort of watching what happens."

Aqua America is aggressively positioning itself to take advantage of what CEO Nick DeBenedictis has described to investors as a "water-energy nexus that could have a positive impact on the future of our company." In recent years, the company has made sizeable acquisitions in Texas and Ohio -- states that, like Pennsylvania, are home to large shale gas plays -- and is also building a pipeline in Pennsylvania to supply water to drillers.

DeBenedictis believes the pipeline will ease the wear and tear on roads and the environment currently caused by trucks carrying water to wells. Recently, however, that pipeline has come under fire from local anti-drilling activists because the project will displace dozens of residents from a mobile home park.

Like American Water, Aqua America is not currently in the drilling wastewater treatment business, but may expand into that market in the future.

Some environmental advocates see potential conflicts between the interests of the private water industry and the interests of drinking water consumers.

"If American Water and Aqua America wanted to ensure that their water supplies were protected, they would support a national ban on hydraulic fracturing for shale gas," argues Mary Grant, a researcher at Food and Water Watch, which has reported on Aqua America's ties to the coalition. "But, instead of acting on the precautionary principle, they are paying thousands of dollars a year to an industry coalition that advocates for shale gas development, despite the risks to water quality."

"We are concerned that these relationships encourage investor owned water utilities to endorse shale gas development despite its risk to public water supplies," Grant says. Eric Goldstein, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, adds, "Sometimes the interests of private ownership are inconsistent with the concept of preserving our water resources in the public trust for future generations. And the potential clashing of those interests is why these questions have been raised about whether for-profit companies ought to be running public water supplies."